HOW TO DESCRIBE A PLACE

Look at this picture, Victorian Interior by Horace Pippin:

Imagine now that the room in the picture has played an important part in your life. In your autobiography you want to describe your first impressions of the room.

This 3-step guide to descriptions can be useful for you:

STEP 1: GETTING IDEAS

Your description of the room is going to include:

-  what you saw, including colours
-  what you heard, smelled and touched
-  your feelings

Look at the picture carefully for a few moments. You were there a long time ago, but you have never forgotten it. Is it a pleasant or unpleasant memory? Or are your feelings mixed?

Now write some brief notes about all the sights, colours, sounds, smells, textures and feelings that you 'remember'.

Adjective and noun combinations are best. For example: old-fashioned furniture; hard scratchy chair covering; strong smell of polish, etc.

STEP 2: FINDING A FOCUS

FEELINGS

Do the adjectives you have written reflect your feelings about the room? For example, have you written heavy old-fashioned furniture or elegant antique furniture? Think of one word or short phrase which sums up your 'memories'. For example, for mainly unpleasant feelings the word could be uncomfortable; and for mainly pleasant feelings the word could be safe.

PATH

Now organise the different parts of your description. Imagine your words following the path of a movie camera. For example, start with a general view and then move to take in selected details in close-up; or start with a detail and gradually build up a wider impression.

STEP 3: WRITING

Here are two possible descriptions of the room which can help you write. Read them and decide in each case what the writer's focus is. For your comfort, we have enlarged the picture above.

VERSION 1

VERSION 2

The first thing I noticed about the room was its warmth and light. A gently hissing oil lamp brought out the cheerful red and gold in the carpet. The furniture was old, but it looked solid and comfortable. Everything had been newly dusted and polished, and the clean smell of polish mixed with the scent of freshly cut flowers. There were some well-used books in a bookcase and a basket of knitting on the floor. This was a room where people could relax after a hard day's work.

The first thing I noticed about the room was a stiffly arranged vase of flowers, and a strong hospital smell of disinfectant and polish. The vase was exactly in the middle of a white lace tablecloth on a round table. On either side of the table there were two old-fashioned brown chairs. Behind each chair there was a gloomy picture in a heavy frame. I did not dare to touch anything in case I made a dirty mark or moved something from its correct position. The only sounds in the room were the little rustling noises I made as I tried to find a comfortable position in one of the hard scratchy chairs. It was not a room to relax in.